Abstract

The post-Cretaceous subsidence history of the Vøring Basin, part of the Atlantic passive margin offshore mid-Norway, has been investigated. Extension and β -factors related to rifting and continental break-up during the Palaeocene have been quantified using both forward and reverse basin-modelling techniques. In the preferred geological model it is assumed that rifting occurred in the Vøring Basin during the Palaeocene (prior to break-up), following an earlier rift event during the Late Jurassic. During Palaeocene rifting the basin may have been dynamically uplifted by the Iceland mantle plume. In the east of the basin there was no Palaeocene extension. Subsidence analysis shows that in the centre of the basin forward and reverse models converge to predict a modest Palaeocene stretching factor (β) of c. 1.15. In the west of the basin, closest to the Atlantic margin, forward models of upper-crustal faulting also predict a β of c. 1.15, but reverse (backstripped) models of subsidence predict a β of up to 1.75. We suggest that lower-crustal and mantle-lithosphere thinning close to the margin were greater than the extension accommodated by upper-crustal faulting and that some lower-crustal/mantle-lithosphere stretching associated with continental separation was partitioned below the Vøring Basin, up to 150 km landwards of the margin.

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